cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4028381

The only thing I can think of is Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord and Marshall McLuhan’s work on media.

Oh, and this work by Christian Fuchs.

Problem being:

I think Fuchs is a Marxist-Humanist and I’m not sure what to think of Marxist humanism.

But I could be wrong.

Maybe I should ignore that aspect of their work.

Thoughts?

Got any book recommendations at all?

I’m looking for:

Media studies

Cultural theory

Communications

Internet

Social media

Management and organization

Community-building

Trends

Technology

etc.

^ These are the topics I’m looking into.

And, hopefully, from a Marxist-Leninist or Marxist standpoint (or at least leftist).

Got anything? Maybe advice?

  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    Oh, okay, I wasn’t sure if you that would work for you or not. Then I would say Inventing Reality and Manufacturing Consent would be the two big ones. I haven’t found any specific Gramsci books to recommend, I’m afraid. I bought Volume 1 of the Prison Notebooks and found them to be more like notes to self that lacked a lot of context. A bit much for me. If you find something good please pass it along. If you’re willing to move away from strictly ML aspect you may find Dark Money by Jane Mayer interesting in which it explores how the Koch brothers and (other billionaires) shoved their dollars and views into every aspect of USian life, from media to education.

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        4·
        8 months ago

        It’s a decent book, but Mayer kinda lets the Dems off the hook. I typically recommend it grouped with Thomas Franks’ Listen Liberal: Or Whatever Happened to the Party of the Left as he covers that pretty much right up until 2014 or so the dems were fully on board with much of what the Kochs were doing. The Kochs were actually on the board of the Democratic Leadership Council which helped get Bill Clinton elected back in the 90’s. I usually also recommend Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean as well, as it expands on the history behind neoliberalism’s father of Public Choice Economics James M. Buchanan ( a real ghoul, one of the assholes invited to advise Pinochet after Allende’s demise) and his involvement with the Kochs. But that may be a bit farther out of the wheelhouse of what you’re looking for. They’re just 3 books that go really well together as my holy trinity of covering US neoliberalism… Actually, you might wanna check them out, as one of the big things Democracy in Chains covers is the way Public Choice Economics is used to present privatization to people in ways that we see very heavy in the news media, while Frank covers how media uses virtue signaling to present a illusion of politics. Maybe, idk, your call.! data-laughing

        If you find this article relevant to your interest, I’d recommend checking out all three books.

        https://harpers.org/2016/02/nor-a-lender-be/